VIDEO: Judge unrepentant for driving children on car roof 'for fun'

A JUDGE who took four children for a “fun” ride inside a canoe fixed to the roof of his car has been accused of putting them at risk.

Published 22nd June 2014

OFF FOR A RIDE: The car with a canoe on the top with four children sitting in it [SCREENSHOT/SUNDAY EXPRESS]

The youngsters could have been seriously injured if they had been thrown out of the canoe, says the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

However, Mark Harvey, a deputy district judge and a solicitor, insists the children were not placed in any danger.

The incident, captured on film, took place last September at St Peter’s International Presbyterian Church in West Liss, Hampshire, during a holiday Bible class.

Pastor Doug Curry suggested putting the children inside the canoe, and when their parents consented Mr Harvey, a church elder, agreed to drive his blue car with them riding on the top.

Most of the short journey took place on a private road leading to the church, but at one point Mr Harvey drove briefly along a public road.

The children were not strapped in and were not wearing safety helmets. At one point in the fi lm a little girl sits up on a canoe cross-beam and waves her arms about, increasing the risk of falling out.

The images were recorded on a CCTV camera fixed outside the home of retired retail executive Richard Pearcey, 68, and his wife Christine, 60. After looking at the images they felt the children had been put at risk and Mrs Pearcey reported the matter to Hampshire police.

She told the Sunday Express: “I felt the children could have fallen and been injured, and I felt it was a police matter.”

“I wouldn’t have said the children were in danger because there wasn’t any traffic around. It was a quirky incident, a bit of fun”

Mark Harvey

Hampshire police investigated the incident but took no further action.

Mr Harvey, speaking from his offices in nearby Bordon, said: “I wouldn’t have said the children were in danger because there wasn’t any traffic around. It was a quirky incident, a bit of fun.”

He also said he had been driving very slowly.

However, Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, said: “This is an extremely stupid and dangerous thing to do.

“These children are completely unprotected and even a low-speed crash would throw them from the canoe and very likely cause them serious injury.”

When the Sunday Express told Mr Harvey of the RoSPA’s response, he said: “I think I have said all I have got to say about it.”

Mr Curry said he regretted the trouble caused to Mr Harvey, adding: “I wouldn’t use the words stupid and dangerous, but I would agree it wasn’t safe.

“I don’t think the children were ever in danger, any more than when I take them canoeing. There is always a danger.

“In retrospect we would agree that it was an unwise thing to do. It was my idea, I take responsibility. You do unwise things in life, you learn.

“The parents were fine, we asked them, and they were standing beside us and some of the children wanted to do it and some didn’t. I regret the trouble it has caused Mark. He is my friend and I got him into this. He is the one who was driving the car.”

Mr Curry said he was walking near the car and telling the children to sit down.

A spokesman for Hampshire police said they could not come back with a comment until the matter had been looked at by their professional standards department.